River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-07-28

fully cool bath; the barber had combed
his hair and cut off his long white
b. ard; while a caftan of satin took the
pace Of his former rags. Even his
wrinkles had disappeared and his hair
grown brown; in fact, 50 thoroughly
transmOgrified was he by the time he
found himself at table. thai no one
would have known him who had seen
him an hour before.
He ate and drank as he had never
done before. deluded by the sweetest
dreams and beguiled by the loveliest
women.
Doctors and learned men from al
parts visited and consulted him, for his
erudition was profound and his knowl-
edge of languages unprecedented. The
Sultan caused thirty gold pistoles to be
drawn from the treasury and handed
him by the Seraskier OF the palace for a
work of considerable merit 10y Tim on
..ShOeS. now unfortunately lost.
Diplomas and decorations flowed in
upon him 80 thickly that he had to have
a room set apart for his archives.
In fact, he who. for upwards of
eighteen hundred and eighty years had
been a wander,r ON the earth. now
lived the life of quiet, well-tO-dO citi-
zen Of the Ottoman Empire. under Alb
dul-Hamid H., the thirty fifth SOW
ereign in male descent of the house of
Gilman, the founder of the empire and |
the twenty-eight Sultan since the con- |
quest of ConstIntinople.
| (May his shadow never grow lessD
| 1t Is alleged on good authority that, |
from the evening of the day Ahasverus |
was installed in his villa by the Bos-
phorus. he slept for forty-eight consec-
utive hours before he could be reused !
to his new life of ease and luxury.
II.
Meanwhile. the ri-htful owner of |
this handsome villa had become an out |
cast and fugitive on the face of the |
earth.
Mahmoud, the dervish, to whom the /
| house and harem belonged, had fallen /
asleep in the mosque while the Hegira
was being commemOrated. Now Allah,
who regards this festival as one of the
most sacred in the year, was angry with
Mahmoud for doing of on such day
in his holy place. The flight of the
prophet the Hegira recalls
was to be matched by another no less
memorable flight on the part of deryish
a punishment for his remissness on
| that occasion.
So. awakening from his nap. and
finding himself alone in the mosque,
Mahmoud rushed out He hunted
about the hall for his boots, but, of
course. they were not to be found, hav-
| ing been iilched by Ahasverus. In a
dark corner. he discovered the mud
covered. lood-stained sandals of the
| Wandering jew. which he put on. hOr-
rible as they were in order to gethome.
At once strange experience came
over him. Hitherto, being dropsical
and equity. his pace had been snail-like
and his walk hObble. Now an cleo
trio fluid ran clean up through him,
loosening the stiffness in his joints and
muscles. The sUppleness of youth and 4
III, strength of manhood returned to
his LEGS. and he felt like starting off on
ten-mile race with Deerfoot \ glass
of brandy poured down the throat of 4
diving man could not have proved 1
more invigorating. His almost inn
potent limbs We're changed IN a few 1
minutes into those of awell-traiued and 4
/ robust pedestrian. He felt like a new /
man. and started for a walk. lie no |
longer thought of going home, rs was
his wont Besides. his sedan chair and 1
servants were not in attendance The |
weather was fine; the air had been |
! cooled by the recent dOwn-pOur, and /
the brown thrush sang in the hedge. |
/ Never before. at any season of life. had /
4 dervish been known to run along as
/ he did. with such villaiuOus sandals on /
his feet. through the muddy streets of |
Constantinople.
And, O miracle, it was not his brain |
which led the way. but his feet that |
| >purred him on. He soon rot beyond /
the walls Of the town, and fairly out in
| 10 the open country. As night came \
on, however, feeling somewhat jaded, /
/ he was about to make mp TO and knock 1
ut the door of a farmhouse bv the way. |
when an uncOnquerable impulse to pro- |
ceed got tine best of his judgment. An /
I iuvineible force kept him walking along /
/ the high road all night. At daybreak, /
/ he found himself miles and miles away |
from his pretty home at Galata. He
stopped Ia quench his thirst in the clear /
water of a brook. which mirrored his |
/ features and form. lie was dumb |
/ founded at the change which his rowing |
/ freak had wrought i'm his personal |
appearance. Was ii a dream? His |
jet-blacb hair had grown white in a
single night, like that of the prisoner of /
/ Chillon: his beard, which was carefully |
shaved every morning, had grown half |
a ward long: his brand new clothes were !
know i'm tatters; and he held in his hand |
/ a LONG. stout staff which he must have |
cut as he passed through a wood.
He now fairly took fright at the state
/ he was in. A raw of reason returned. |
I He would get back to COnstantinople, |
/ by hook. or by crook He had only to |
make himself known, and fee some |
peasant. So muttering, he felt for his
purse full of gold sequins. But the
purse was gone. After fumbling in
the depths of his pocket, he presently
fetched up five bits of red copper, the
/ lowest coin i'm the country. He flung
the money away from him with rage
and disgust. But later on, as he passed
a baker, shop and began to feel the
pangs Of hunger, his surprise was I'M
bounded At finding five other bits of
copper. Ike those which he had thrown
away This time, however, he bought
some bread, and drank from a public
fountain before proceeding on his way.
And thus. day after day, Mahmoud
the dervish travelled. He visited many
lands. and the five copper coins which
he had at first despised, and which were
constantly renewed in his pocket rs
fast as he spent them, proved in
the long run a most prOvidential
supply Thus ut Epinal, in France,
where children's eolored portraits are
made. he bought for a cent his own
portrait. together with plaintive song
set to a still more plaintye tune, en-
titled The Legend of the Wandering
jew" For he had no doubt by this time
that he was the genuine article; not the
Will-o'-the-WiSp of the story. but the
real Simon Pure. So he settled down
10 his task in sober earnest.
In every French town through which